Arsenal: Mesut Ozil doesn’t suit football, not just Unai Emery

Mesut Ozil is being eased out of Arsenal. Many have said it is because he does not suit Unai Emery’s style of play. But I believe that that line of argument can be taken one step further: not only does he not suit Emery’s style, I don’t think he suits the modern game at all.

The central attacking midfield position might be the most important in football. Throughout history, the creative, goalscoring, number 10 has been the central piece of almost any team. Think Pele and Brazil. Maradona and Napoli and Argentina. Eric Cantona and Manchester United. Andres Iniesta and Barcelona.

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But the way the position is being played is changing. In years past, these players were ball-obsessed players. Their best work came when they had the ball, dissecting defences with passes, beating defenders when dribbling with the ball, scoring goals in and around the penalty area. They were not in the team for what they did without the ball; it was the magic that they and only they could create that managers sought.

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Because they were so inventive and rare, managers would build teams around them, acknowledging their defensive and work-rate flaws, knowing that they would make up for it at the other end of the pitch.

But the way football is played over the past five years has changed dramatically. Never has it been more physical, faster-paced, and more intense. The introduction of a suffocating high-press means every player is now required to work defensively, with players becoming more well-rounded — defenders and even goalkeepers must be better with the ball; attackers must be better without it.

Unai Emery came to Arsenal wanting to implement this new style. But there was one player who was always going to struggle to adapt. As John Cross stated in The Sunday Supplement on Sky Sports, Mesut Ozil has not fitted into the Emery team at all:

"“The fact of the matter is that Ozil is just not playing under Emery. He’s not an Emery style of player, Emery demands an intense style of play. Frankly, there is no place for Ozil in Emery’s philosophy and long-term tactics <….> Emery cannot trust the player.”"

That point is most certainly true. It does not take a genius to figure out that the fragrant, crafty but notoriously lazy and languid Ozil was never going to like playing under an intense, fiery manager like Emery. But I would take the line of thinking one step further. I wouldn’t just say that Ozil does not suit Emery; I would argue that he does not suit football at all.

The modern, pressing game is bringing about the death of the traditional, mercurial, majestic but flawed number 10, Ozil being the perfect example of that type of player. Look at the best attacking midfielders in the best teams in world football today. Kevin de Bruyne and David Silva. Christian Eriksen. Paul Pogba — especially the France/Ole Gunnar Solskjaer version. They are not just creators. They are athletic, physical, industrious, defensively astute, willing to press. All things that Ozil has proven he is either incapable of doing or unwilling to do.

Look, I love watching Mesut Ozil play football. There are few people that appreciate a good pass as much as I do, and when he is at his fluent, free-flowing best, there are few players in the world that I would rather watch play. But the game is evolving, and he must evolve with it. If he doesn’t, he will be little more than a bygone relic of the past.